A young man who drove drunk and crashed a car into a lamppost, killing one of his passengers, on Friday received a six-year prison sentence.
Erwin Mejia Ramos, 21, pleaded guilty last month to felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing injury for the July 29, 2022, crash that killed a backseat passenger, Sarai Valentina Olvera, 26, and injured another woman in the car.
The crash happened around 12:30 a.m. in the 1100 block of Orange Avenue in Coronado, according to police.
At Ramos’ arraignment last year, Deputy District Attorney Amy Colby said Ramos and his passengers traveled from Riverside to San Diego County, where they consumed alcohol at La Jolla Cove before driving to Coronado.
Once there, Colby said Ramos, 20 at the time of the fatal crash, was driving at speeds of 60 to 80 mph “by his own estimation” in a 25-mph zone.
Olvera died “instantly” in the crash, the prosecutor said, while Ramos’ other passenger, another 20-year-old, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
– City News Service
